Best Practices Library that includes shared documents such as sample business agreements, license agreements, and partnership agreements.

Secure access to the Mindshare Alumni Network website.

Access to strong external social media presence on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter.

Mindshare Organization and History: 20 Years of an Exclusive Group

Founded in 1997 by a local group of prominent executives and passionate business leaders, Mindshare is an exclusive forum designed to help CEOs of emerging technology companies build bigger, better and more innovative businesses.

The Mindshare Organizing Board is comprised of prominent technology and business leaders within the Washington DC region. The Organizing Board members conduct a rigorous selection procedure that accepts about 50 technology CEOs each year into the Mindshare Class. The Class meets once a month, for 10 months, to engage with other successful entrepreneurs, interact with the board, enjoy dinner, and gain knowledge from a panel discussion. Panel presenters are legends and luminaries who share their success stories and lessons learned on topics that are critical to launching, scaling and exiting a company -- such as raising venture capital, driving revenue, marketing and sales, recruiting and retaining top talent, building a board and implanting successful exit strategies. Past speakers include Mario Morino, founder and CEO of Legent, The Morino Institute and Netpreneur; Andrews Stern, Chairman and CEO of USinternetworking; Raul Fernandez, founder of Proxicom and Chairman and CEO of ObjectVideo; and Lt. General John Sattler, Leadership Chair at U.S. Naval Academy.

Upon completion of each year's class, the participating CEOs are invited to a formal graduation ceremony that follows by the opportunity to join the Mindshare Alumni Group. To date, there are more than 900 members within the Mindshare Alumni Network.

The process begins every year with the Mindshare Organizing Board reviewing new submissions in January and sending invitations by early February. The class kick-off event is held late February and hosted by Ted Leonis at the Verizon Center. The following nine sessions meet for networking, dinner and panel discussions in a specified restaurant’s private dining room. A graduation ceremony is celebrated in December.

To be considered for the class, a Mindshare Alumni must invite the prospective CEO to complete the application at any time throughout the year before the December 31st deadline.

To Nominate a CEO to the Mindshare Class

Members of the Mindshare Alumni and Mindshare Organizing Board may nominate a CEO to the Mindshare Class. Nominees must be a CEO of an emerging or high-growth technology company in the DC area. This does not have to be a first-time CEO, but we are focused on CEO's who will both gain knowledge and contribute to the program. The Mindshare program is tailored to high-tech companies, versus government contractors and services organizations.

Nominations are due by December 31st of each year. The class begins late February.

Please email the following data points to Sabrina Morales (smorales@cooley.com). All information will be kept strictly confidential.

CEO Name

Company Name

Full Contact Information (phone, email, address, website)

A brief paragraph about the Company (compelling net/net of the company, what does the product do, what differentiates this company from other similar companies)

A brief paragraph about the CEO

Stage of Company (funded, how much raised and who are the investors, has the product launched, who are a sampling of current customers, number of employees, revenue, etc.)